GREAT OAK’S PONZIO CAPTURES TWO TITLES AT MASTERS

Athlete now aiming for discus, shot put titles at state meet

CERRITOS 
Just after last weekend’s CIF Championships, Great Oak’s Nick Ponzio was adamant about his ultimate goal — to win both the discus and the shot put at the CIF State Track meet.

It was an aspiration that might have seemed pretty lofty after a championship meet that saw the senior finish with a third-place showing in the discus.

But on Friday night at Cerritos College at the CIF Southern Section Masters meet, Ponzio put his dreams right back on track.

Ponzio captured first place in the discus and the shot put to advance to the CIF State Meet to be held in Clovis next week.

“The goal is to win both, and I believe that I can do it,” Ponzio said. “The training is going really well — now it’s time to put it all out there. I have to shine when I need to.”

“It’s going to be a real fun week coming up, and I’m looking forward to being able to finally work toward that state title.”

Ponzio first captured the discus on Friday, and did so in nail-biting fashion. Sitting in second place heading into his sixth and final throw, he delivered his longest throw of the afternoon, measuring 186 feet, 5 inches to clinch the title.

“It wasn’t my personal record in disc, but it was pretty darn close,” Ponzio said. “I had a pair of 190-foot-plus throws before the last one that were sector fouls, so I really felt that I was capable of winning it on that final throw.”

Great Oak head coach Doug Soles said that he considered taking Ponzio out after he had qualified for the state meet on his second throw.

“We were thinking about pulling him out so that he could rest for the shot put,” Soles said. “(Ponzio) said no and that he was here to win. When you get that kind of fire from an athlete, you just gotta kind of go with it. They earned it.”

Ponzio then went on to capture the shot put with a 65-1 on his third shot.

The Wolfpack also had reason to celebrate on the girls’ side, as senior Jade Miller qualified for the state meet in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. Miller won the 300 hurdles in a time of 41.34, and finished second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.24.

Miller had not lost a 300 hurdles race all season, but Friday’s race seemed in jeopardy when she hit a hurdle early in the race.

“I was able to just pull myself back in after that,” Miller said. “You practice the back end of the race with your coach so much, and that’s really all I could think about. I just had to go and finish hard.”

Miller said she will compete in both events at the state meet, and aims to improve on her third-place finish in the 300 hurdles at the event last season.

The Great Oak girls finished second in the 1,600 relay.

Vista Murrieta also had a good showing in the meet with its boys 1,600 relay team capturing a championship with a time of 3:16.59. The Broncos’ Porter Reddish took second place in the 1,600, while teammate Omar Solis took third in the 800.